Turkeys on Darkover
Nov. 24th, 2005 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjIt's an odd thing that, if I were to identify a default Thanksgiving plan in my life, it has come to be Darkovercon in Timmonium Maryland. (The back-up default is the cousins in San Mateo.) The major family gathering efforts always go into Christmas, so there isn't the same pressure these days to do the same for Thanksgiving. But why Darkovercon instead? (Other than the given that Darkovercon happens Thanksgiving weekend.) It happened something like this.
Way back when ... let's see, I was living in the little cottage on 40th St. Way at the time, so that puts it 'round about 1985 or so ... I was a fairly regular attendee at the Fantasy Worlds Festival convention in Berkeley. It was a small sf con that focused largely around Marion Zimmer Bradley and people in her social and writing circles. In fact, a FWF was the first sf convention I ever attended, back in 1981 I think it was, back when they were holding it at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall on University Ave. At the '85 convention (I think that's the right year), the fan guest of honor at FWF was J.G., who was running a regular east coast convention also centered around the works of MZB and similar writers. (By "similar writers" I primarily mean "authors also liked by people who liked MZB.) I ended up chatting for quite a while with J.G. on Sunday morning at the con and since she was staying for a few days past the convention, I had her over to my place for a visit. And the next thing I know, she invites me to come out to Darkovercon and participate in the musical programming.
I hadn't had any fiction published yet at that point, but I was doing a lot of fantasy-oriented song-writing, and I was just tickled to death that someone would invite me to a convention and give me a concert slot and in general treat me as if I were Somebody. So I went. It was fun -- a relatively small convention where you have half a chance of actually talking to interesting people. And let us not discount the egoboo.
J.G. kept inviting me to be on the programming, so I kept going as often as I could afford (which was oftener than otherwise since the convention paid some of my expenses). We also shared an interest in the SCA, especially heraldry and cooking, and Darkovercon ended up being a place to bump into a good selection of SCA friends from the eastern half of the country. When the Elder Brother was teaching at Annapolis (I forget the time-frame exactly) I talked him into doing the convention, partly because it meant another occasion to see each other. And through contacts he made at Darkovercon, he got sucked into the SCA as well.
When I started getting my fiction published, I started getting added to the writing programming as well as doing the music. (I've gotten a lot less active musically, having gotten a bit out of the habit when grad school got really heavy.) Being a "regular" means I get to have a lot more program fun than someone of my limited output would have at an average convention. I actually get a bit embarrassed about how many programming items I usually get put on. But let us not discount the egoboo.
I once described Darkovercon as being a little bit like an annual family reunion ... with all the advantages and disadvantages. (There were years where I felt like the new girlfriend of a third cousin once removed, sitting on a couch and hoping someone would talk to me.) But that's the basic answer to "why Darkovercon for Thanksgiving?"
Because it's What I Do.
The plane trip was delightfully boring. I discovered that a full battery charge on my new laptop translates into about 1 hour 45 minutes of DVD play. About half an hour after I got to the hotel, it started snowing -- didn't stick, and today it's just cold but no precipitation. Today was mostly hanging out, relaxing, getting caught up on some paperwork, and the hotel's Thanksgiving Buffet with other early-arrivers. (The convention proper doesn't start until tomorrow.) With appropriate gestures to ward off jinxes, I seem to have ditched the hovering head-cold.
Way back when ... let's see, I was living in the little cottage on 40th St. Way at the time, so that puts it 'round about 1985 or so ... I was a fairly regular attendee at the Fantasy Worlds Festival convention in Berkeley. It was a small sf con that focused largely around Marion Zimmer Bradley and people in her social and writing circles. In fact, a FWF was the first sf convention I ever attended, back in 1981 I think it was, back when they were holding it at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall on University Ave. At the '85 convention (I think that's the right year), the fan guest of honor at FWF was J.G., who was running a regular east coast convention also centered around the works of MZB and similar writers. (By "similar writers" I primarily mean "authors also liked by people who liked MZB.) I ended up chatting for quite a while with J.G. on Sunday morning at the con and since she was staying for a few days past the convention, I had her over to my place for a visit. And the next thing I know, she invites me to come out to Darkovercon and participate in the musical programming.
I hadn't had any fiction published yet at that point, but I was doing a lot of fantasy-oriented song-writing, and I was just tickled to death that someone would invite me to a convention and give me a concert slot and in general treat me as if I were Somebody. So I went. It was fun -- a relatively small convention where you have half a chance of actually talking to interesting people. And let us not discount the egoboo.
J.G. kept inviting me to be on the programming, so I kept going as often as I could afford (which was oftener than otherwise since the convention paid some of my expenses). We also shared an interest in the SCA, especially heraldry and cooking, and Darkovercon ended up being a place to bump into a good selection of SCA friends from the eastern half of the country. When the Elder Brother was teaching at Annapolis (I forget the time-frame exactly) I talked him into doing the convention, partly because it meant another occasion to see each other. And through contacts he made at Darkovercon, he got sucked into the SCA as well.
When I started getting my fiction published, I started getting added to the writing programming as well as doing the music. (I've gotten a lot less active musically, having gotten a bit out of the habit when grad school got really heavy.) Being a "regular" means I get to have a lot more program fun than someone of my limited output would have at an average convention. I actually get a bit embarrassed about how many programming items I usually get put on. But let us not discount the egoboo.
I once described Darkovercon as being a little bit like an annual family reunion ... with all the advantages and disadvantages. (There were years where I felt like the new girlfriend of a third cousin once removed, sitting on a couch and hoping someone would talk to me.) But that's the basic answer to "why Darkovercon for Thanksgiving?"
Because it's What I Do.
The plane trip was delightfully boring. I discovered that a full battery charge on my new laptop translates into about 1 hour 45 minutes of DVD play. About half an hour after I got to the hotel, it started snowing -- didn't stick, and today it's just cold but no precipitation. Today was mostly hanging out, relaxing, getting caught up on some paperwork, and the hotel's Thanksgiving Buffet with other early-arrivers. (The convention proper doesn't start until tomorrow.) With appropriate gestures to ward off jinxes, I seem to have ditched the hovering head-cold.
